Abstract

Background:

Residential exposure to air pollution (AP) has been shown to activate the immune system (IS). Although innate immune responses to AP have been studied extensively, investigations on the adaptive IS are scarce.

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between short- to long-term AP exposure and polyclonal free light chains (FLC) produced by plasma cells.

Methods:

We used repeated data from three examinations ($t_0$: 2000–2003; $t_1$: 2006–2008; and $t_2$: 2011–2015) of the population-based German Heinz Nixdorf Recall cohort of initially 4,814 participants (45–75 y old). Residential exposure to total and source-specific particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 or $2.5\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{m}$ (${\mathrm{PM}}_{10}$ and ${\mathrm{PM}}_{2.5}$ respectively), nitrogen dioxide (${\mathrm{NO}}_2$), and particle number concentrations (accumulation mode; ${\text{PN}}_{\text{AM}}$) was estimated using a chemistry transport model with different time windows (1- to 365-d mean ± standard deviation) before blood draw. We applied linear mixed models with a random participant intercept to estimate associations between total, traffic- and industry-related AP exposures and log-transformed FLC, controlling for examination time, sociodemographic and lifestyle variables, estimated glomerular filtration rate and season.

Results:

Analyzing 9,933 observations from 4,455 participants, we observed generally positive associations between AP exposures and FLC. We observed strongest associations with middle-term exposures, e.g., 3.0% increase in FLC (95% confidence interval: 1.8%, 4.3%) per interquartile range increase in 91-d mean of ${\mathrm{NO}}_2$ ($14.1\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{m}³$). Across the different pollutants, ${\mathrm{NO}}_2$ showed strongest associations with FLC, followed by ${\mathrm{PM}}_{10}$ and ${\text{PN}}_{\text{AM}}$. Effect estimates for traffic-related exposures were mostly higher compared with total exposures. Although ${\mathrm{NO}}_2$ and ${\text{PN}}_{\text{AM}}$ estimates remained stable upon adjustment for PM, PM estimates decreased considerably upon adjustment for ${\mathrm{NO}}_2$ and ${\text{PN}}_{\text{AM}}$.

Discussion:

Our results suggest that middle-term AP exposures in particular might be positively associated with activation of the adaptive IS. Traffic-related PM, ${\text{PN}}_{\text{AM}}$, and ${\mathrm{NO}}_2$ showed strongest associations. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7164

中文翻译：

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空气污染和血清游离轻链的多克隆升高：前瞻性 Heinz Nixdorf 召回研究中适应性免疫反应的评估

摘要

背景：

住宅暴露于空气污染 (AP) 已被证明会激活免疫系统 (IS)。尽管对 AP 的先天免疫反应已被广泛研究，但对适应性 IS 的研究却很少。

目标：

本研究的目的是研究短期到长期的 AP 暴露与浆细胞产生的多克隆游离轻链 (FLC) 之间的关联。

方法：

我们使用了来自三项检查的重复数据（${吨}_0$: 2000-2003;${吨}_1$: 2006-2008; 和${吨}_2$: 2011-2015) 以人群为基础的德国 Heinz Nixdorf 召回队列，最初有 4,814 名参与者（45-75 岁）。住宅暴露于空气动力学直径为 10 或$2.5\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{米}$(${\mathrm{下午}}_{10}$和${\mathrm{下午}}_{2.5}$分别）、二氧化氮（${\mathrm{不}}_2$) 和粒子数浓度（累积模式；${\text{PN}}_{\text{是}}$) 是在抽血前使用具有不同时间窗（1 到 365 天平均值 ± 标准差）的化学传输模型进行估计的。我们应用具有随机参与者截距的线性混合模型来估计总的、交通和行业相关的 AP 暴露与对数转换的 FLC 之间的关联，控制检查时间、社会人口和生活方式变量、估计的肾小球滤过率和季节。

结果：

分析来自 4,455 名参与者的 9,933 项观察结果，我们观察到 AP 暴露与 FLC 之间通常呈正相关。我们观察到与中期暴露的最强关联，例如，在 91 天平均每四分位间距增加 FLC 增加 3.0%（95% 置信区间：1.8%、4.3%）${\mathrm{不}}_2$($14.1\mathrm{\mu }\mathrm{G}/\mathrm{米}³$）。跨越不同的污染物，${\mathrm{不}}_2$显示出与 FLC 的最强关联，其次是${\mathrm{下午}}_{10}$和${\text{PN}}_{\text{是}}$. 与总暴露相比，交通相关暴露的效应估计值大多较高。虽然${\mathrm{不}}_2$和${\text{PN}}_{\text{是}}$PM 调整后估计保持稳定，PM 估计在调整 PM 后显着下降${\mathrm{不}}_2$和${\text{PN}}_{\text{是}}$.

讨论：

我们的结果表明，尤其是中期 AP 暴露可能与自适应 IS 的激活呈正相关。交通相关的PM，${\text{PN}}_{\text{是}}$， 和${\mathrm{不}}_2$显示出最强的关联。https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP7164